Final Fantasy VII: The Mercenary and the Ninja
by Timana
Summary: Written as I play the game. What if Cloud was not as thick when it came to girls as people think. What if a certain ninja attracted his attention. How would the journey have gone? Based of the alternate date scene Disc One CloudxYuffie. Weekly Updates.


**DISCLAIMER**

**I do not own Final Fantasy, the plot of the game, or the characters involved. This story is not for prophet and is only written to entertain myself and my readers. **

**The only part that belongs to me is the romance plot between the characters.**

**A/N**

**This is my first Final Fantasy VII Fan Fiction, so be kind.**

**This is a Cloud/Yuffie story; other pairings may follow but none at this time.**

**This chapter was beta'd by my lovely assistant Yua_San, but as with all works errors do slip through, so I apologise in advance. If you spot and error in my spelling/grammar feel free to inform me of it. All advice is taken onboard. Also if there are any major plot errors then either I have screwed up (hopefully not as I'm playing the game as I write this) please comment and let me know so I can fix it.**

**Please Enjoy, I look forward to your review.**

**Chapter One: The Meeting**

Cloud had to admit their attacker had been talented. It had taken the best effort of three people to finally bring her down. It had been Tifa and Cloud, capitalizing on the attacker being distracted by Aerith, who had got the final blow. His sword swung hard and took the shuriken right out of the attacker's hands and before she could even react Tifa caught her heavily with a series of kicks. She went down hard as her weapon hit a nearby tree, embedding several inches in it.

None of the four spoke for several minutes as they were all catching their breath. Tifa and Aerith had sunk to their knees whilst Cloud leant on his sword (which he had stuck in the ground). The attacker, a young girl of western decent, lay on her back.

It was the attacker who was the first to recover and to speak, surprising Cloud as she had taken quite a beating from the trio. She jumped to her feat and took up a fighting stance, ignoring the weapon in the tree.

"Man, I can't believe I lost." Cloud heard her mutter to herself. "You spiky-haired jerk! One more time, let's go one more time." She said louder and full of fake confidence. Her eyes were full of anger and determination, but also fatigue. It was very doubtful that she would last another round against Cloud.

"Not interested." He said, in his usual emotionless voice. It would be pathetic to battle anyone who was in the state she was in.

She jumped in front of Aerith and threw a few punches in the air. "Thinkin' of running away? Stay and fight! FIGHT I Said!" She repeated the actions, this time in front of Tifa. "C'mon.....What's the matter?" She jumped to stand in front of the group. Cloud had to admit she was good. She was obviously tired and you could tell by her landings that she was using up her reserves quite quickly without really showing it. "You're pretty scared of me, huh!?"

Tifa had to put her hand in her mouth to stop herself laughing at the antics of this girl. Aerith too, despite her normal kind manner, had to admit this girl was amusingly annoying. Cloud however had a growing respect for the girl. Her talent in battle would be useful for at least the journey to Juno, maybe further. He'd play along for now. In the same emotionless voice as before he replied to her question, "Petrified." Tifa could hear the sarcasm in his voice and was finding it harder not to laugh out loud, the girl's action and reply didn't help matters.

"Hmm, just as I thought. What do you expect with my skill?" She dusted her knuckles on her shoulder, missing or ignoring the obvious sarcasm in Cloud's reply, "Good luck to you too. If you feel up to it, we can go another round. Later!" With that she ran to the edge of the clearing before stopping and looking back at Cloud.

'That was odd.' He thought to himself, 'Why isn't she leaving. She obviously has finished here unless...' He was brought out of his thoughts by the girls calling to him, what she said only confirmed to him that she did in fact want to join with his party.

"Wait a second!" He called, surprising Tifa and Aerith who had been looking forward to the girl leaving. Cloud walked over to the girl.

"What is it, you still have somethin' for me?" She walked back over and looked to Cloud for an answer.

"We're travelling to Juno, maybe further, some tough fights on the way." He said, hoping to polish the girl's ego. Her eyes sparkled with hidden mischief and excitement.

".....Hmmm. So is that it?" She replied putting on a thinking face, though Cloud could see it was fake. He nodded and she went on, "I know you want my help because I'm so good." Cloud prevented himself from rolling his eyes, unlike his two companions (the girl briefly glared at them before looking back to Cloud). "You want me to go with you?"

Tifa and Aerith wanted to object but Cloud was ignoring their presence at the moment focusing on the girl fighter in front of them.

"That's right." He said, looking her in the eye. She was a damn good fighter and would be very useful along the way. Cloud also like the confidence and determination she had. With some work she would be a bloody good battle companion as well as an interesting travelling companion, he could feel the glares he was getting from his female companions behind him.

The girl went slightly red under his intense gaze, but managed a confident, bordering on cocky, reply "Heh heh... thought so. You put me in a spot. Hmm, what should I do?" She pretended to think for a moment before answering. "But if you want me to that bad, I can't refuse..." she muttered to herself. Cloud could tell this was only for effect, she seemed to like dramatics this girl. "All right! I'll go with you!" She said happily, beaming at the group. She conveniently ignored the groans and muttering from Tifa and Aerith.

Cloud allowed a small internal smile, none appearing on his face. This girl had potential to rock their group up big time. He decided to show that he was the leader of this group, and have fun frustrating her at the same time. It never occurred that he didn't know her name. He looked at the sky (more for effect but it was in fact getting dark) and spoke, "Let's hurry on." Before turning and walking away towards a small light in the distance which he guessed would be Barret and Red. Tifa and Aerith quickly followed him as he walked away ignoring the girl completely.

"Huh? Hey... HEY!" The girl called running after them, she was meant to be in control of this conversation and Cloud had turned the tables and won with that last comment. "Wait! I haven't even told you my name! I'm Yuffie, good to meetcha!" But they were out of sight now and she was alone.

A number of things ran through the girl's head at that moment. First was success, second was frustration, third was fatigue and finally came confusion. She shrugged of the latter three, knowing there would be time to deal with that at a later date. She would concentrate on the success. Now that they were gone she allowed herself to smile as she slowly walked to catch up with them. As she walked she began to mutter to herself, "Heh heh...... just as I planned. Now all I have to do is... a little this...... and a little that...... nyuk, nyuk, nyuk......"

It then occurred to her that she didn't in fact know where they were going. And tried to speed up as much as her body would allow her to. She would not show weakness in front of them, especially the two that seemed to doubt her skills.

"Hey, wait up! Wait for me!!" She called again, and she could just make out the figure of Cloud leaning on a tree waiting for her as the darkness fell around them.

**Sorry it's short; most chapters will be of a similar length to this, hopefully a bit longer.**

**Please spare five minutes to review what you have read. I'm not going to demand reviews by not posting the next chapter, but all reviews are good for the author as it can improve the product they are writing.**

**Thank You and I plan to do a weekly update, so hopefully the next chapter will be up next Monday.**

**Your words feed me.**

**Tim.**


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